If your child vomited in a restaurant what would you do?

[TheTiredBartender]

Don't read this post if talking about vomit disturbs you.

I work FOH in a nice independent restaurant. It's expensive and quite formal. Not really a place for small children but we do have a lot of families eating with us during the holidays.

It's day 2 of half term here and I have had 2 different children vomit in my restaurant. I honestly can not believe how the parents involved have behaved. I need to get this off my chest.

The first one yesterday was dreadful. Poor child stood in the middle of the room, gagging and retching, and her parents just sat there! There was no way she would have made it to the loo so I ran over with the bin from my bar and instead of puking in to the bin the poor kid turned her head towards a table of four and let go. I was literally catching sick in my hands so it didn't land on this woman just trying to eat her lunch.
Her parents still did nothing, just carried on sitting there with their mouths hanging open. So I held the bin up under her chin and helped her to the bathroom. Finally her mum came in to help the poor girl and I returned to absolute chaos in the restaurant.
I got everything cleaned up, the vomit family came to pay their bill and asked for the gratuity to be removed. I don't ever expect tips, the gratuity is added to the bill automatically, I have no problem removing it normally but when I have literally just caught your child's vomit in my bare hands I think leaving that 10% tip is the least you can do. They didn't even say thank you.

Then today I have a table of 12 in my section, 8 adults and 4 children. They're enjoying their main courses when all of a sudden they stand up at once and start getting ready to leave, very suspicious behaviour. I start walking over when one of the mum's comes rushing up to me and tells me, in a very jolly manner, that one her of her children has just vomited a little bit but it's fine because she caught it on her plate and they just want to pay the bill and get the child home. I hand her over to another waitress to sort the bill and go over to their table.
She definitely managed to catch the vomit on her plate. And 6 other plates. It's in some glasses, on a cushion, and in the flowers. Oh, and the floor! There is no way that much sick came from one child. So, once again, I am left to clean up vomit. I have to give my customers to the other servers and close that section to deal with it all.
While I'm cleaning the waitress who dealt with their bill comes over to tell me that they removed the gratuity and also demanded a 50% discount since they didn't get to finish their meals before their child was sick. When that was refused they made a complaint that I had pulled a face and given a disgusted look and I should be more cheerful.

There is, of course, the knock-on effect of other customers being unhappy and complaining (understandable) and wanting discounts on their bills etc.

I have two children. We eat out often. If one of them were to be sick then I'd be cleaning it up myself and if for some reason I couldn't then I would be apologising to every staff member and customer nearby then I'd leave a huge tip.

YABU - Minimum wage waiting staff should clean up vomit without complaining.

YANBU - Of course I'd clean up my child's vomit and if I couldn't then I'd make sure the staff knew how grateful I am for their help.

Disgusting behaviour but it doesn’t surprise me unfortunately (work in hospitality).

So sorry you had to deal with all that.

What fucking animals

Gosh my son was sick on a bus once just as we were pulling up to our stop. I couldn't apologise enough to the bus driver! Luckily (ish 🤢) I think I managed to contain most of it on myself and DS. We went to shower at the swimming pool - it was our intended destination - and the staff there were lovely as well. DS went home in his swimming gear because I had nothing else to put him in and I just had to put up with the soaking wet, hopefully not too smelly, clothes I went in.

In a restaurant I'd be on my hands and knees mopping everything up as best I could because it's grim enough having to deal with your own/your child's sick. There's no way I'd allow someone else to deal with it. I'd be super grateful for whatever cleaning supplies they could give me but I'd be doing it myself!

Fucking animals. Should have rubbed their noses in it. I'm so pissed on your behalf.

When ds was about 2 we realised ice cream didn't agree with him in a nice cafe. Dh caught it. I asked for cloths and spray. Dh stripes ds's top off and wrapped ds in his coat.. Absolutely did no member of staff join in.!

This happened to us when DS had such a bad cough with hayfever he was sick. It wasn’t very much vomit, and I was able to catch it in paper napkins, which I cleared away and took away myself. We left the restaurant as quickly as we could as I few lt self conscious even though I knew it wasn’t a bug.

After I’d died inside I would catch it/clean it/ask for something to clean it up.
I wouldn’t ask for a freebie if I couldn’t finish my food (I’d be leaving immediately after clearing up).

If I were another customer, I wouldn’t ask for money off?! It’s not your fault a child has taken ill. Even though I’d feel sick myself I witnessed it.

Some people are just disgusting and I really feel for you. Thankfully it’s never happened to my child but I would do everything I could to clean up and leave a significant tip.

You’ve reminded me of eating out with another family years ago when their child was sick at the table. The parents made a token effort to clean up but were so rude to the member of staff that tried to help. A while later (when we were most definitely no longer friends) I came across a Tripadvisor review that the DM had left blaming the restaurant for giving her child (and me) food poisoning! No that would be because I had severe morning sickness so could barely eat anyway and because she’d let her little darling eat a ridiculous amount of crap at the kid’s party we’d just been too.

Blimey that's terrible. Fortunately I've never had that with my kids but I always clear up all mess they make. In that situation I may need to ask for some cloths, but I would absolutely clear it up.

I think you need some Ts and Cs somewhere discretely a bit like the 'park at your own risk' signs with a £50 vomit charge like taxis have. Then at your discretion you can enforce it if the people are dicks. Or tactically say 'I should have charged you £50 but I'll only charge £30' so they think they're getting off lightly!

Two children in two days? That seems a little beyond the scope of a normal amount of vomit for a single restaurant - obviously the timescale is too soon for food poisoning or anything directly linked to the restaurant, but I wonder if norovirus is circulating or something?

My son was sick in a fairly nice but not fancy independent tapas restaurant when he was a baby. I was on my hands and knees scooping it up into a nappy sack with my bare hands when the poor owner insisted in taking over. We tipped very well (50% of the cost of the bill) and wrote an excellent review.

Another time in a different but very similar restaurant (even down to the independent fairly nice tapas part!) there were a large ish group at the table beside us, one of the ladies vomited into a pitcher of half consumed sangria and didn’t tell anyone, they all continued with the meal. Shortly after, I went to the toilet and they had vomited down the staircase to the toilets and all over a cubicle. It was horrendous, the whole place smelled. We tipped as normal but I must admit I was slightly annoyed we did not have anything taken off our bill because of the experience - it was previously my favourite restaurant and I’ve never been back!

I hate vomit I'm terrible with it and I have a DD9 I'd be straight over to clean up if my DD vomited. When I was 19 I worked later in a supermarket. Suddenly on the bus I was like sweating and panicking, out of nowhere I vomited into my hand bag. I had to open the window and continue into my bag. I was 2 minutes away from my grans house so got off there vomited all down the street and into her bathroom. I swear it came from nowhere. The bus was practically empty but the bus driver could hear and see me as I got off I was like it's in my hand bag don't worry 🙈😂

Jesus Christ. Unbelievable!

DD was sick in a cafe once. We had a group of her friends there, she was sick all over the floor. Thankfully only two other customers who were already in the process of leaving. We apologised profusely, helped clear it up, and paid a large amount extra £ on top of the bill.

I can just about understand the family freezing rather than catching the sick. But not paying a gratuity?? Asking for money off?? What the actual fuck?

I think this is the first time I've seen 100% YANBU. You're definitely not!!

This has happened to me twice as a mother and I've been mortified and helped clean up both times. The vomiting came out of nowhere. I didn't take a sick child into the restaurant. These things happen but I can't imagine expecting someone else to do all the cleaning up.

This happened to me. Well, my son. It was a (first and unexpected) febrile seizure, we had to take him to A&E, he was in for several days.

I was with my husband and sister so luckily my husband could take him outside, my sister could explain to staff, and I could get on my hands and knees and try my best to clean up and apologise to surrounding diners (who were actually all nice because it was clear he was seizing). Obviously we left a big tip - I asked for a mop etc to clean up myself but was refused, "don't worry this is my job". Everyone was very kind.

BUT had I been on my own with my boy I would have just had to leave - hopefully remembering to pay / leave a big tip - without offering.

Some people are awful. The only thing I’ve had close to this was my toddler threw up in a supermarket once all over the floor. The staff were brilliant bringing paper towels and spray. I wouldn’t let any of them clean it though. Wouldn’t dream of it.

That is fucking OUTRAGEOUS on behalf of the parents. Of course I would clean my child's sick up! The only time when I might not jump straight to it would be if I was dining alone with 2 young kids, one being a babe in arms and both of them started screaming and crying together. But i would tell staff to wait til I'd calmed them down and done it then. If staff cleaned up in those circumstances because they couldn't afford to "ruin" the experience of other diners, I'd have left a sizeable tip and been back with flowers and chocolates the next day.

You would have been within your rights to say "you will have to clean this up, it's not my job".

Realistically, if the parents refuse to clean it up, what can OP do about it?

That's dreadful.

My dd was sick all over a hotel room once. Dh and I fully expected to clean it up ourselves but we called reception as we needed some cloths to sort it out. The little guy who came up to the room was so unbelievably lovely and refused point blank to let us do anything. I felt absolutely dreadful but so, so grateful.

DD was also sick in Sainsbury's once, in a town that we were visiting and didn't know. They were really unpleasant about it and so rude. DH asked for some stuff to clear it up and they said that they would sort it while making it clear that they weren't happy about it. Then I asked where the toilet was as I didn't think dd was necessarily done. The woman said no, you can't use our toilets, you need to take her somewhere else. So dd ended up puking up again into a Sainsbury's carrier bag outside the store!

I'm sorry that you had to deal with so much sick, OP. Both families sound dreadful and I can't believe that they both asked for the gratuity to be removed. In those circumstances, I'd be asking to double it at the very least!

@CakeIsNotAvailable the manager or owner would be doing it. Not me, I can tell you that for nowt.

I don't think it's norovirus or anything - I mean I bloody hope not because even though I was very thorough and careful while cleaning I can't afford to get sick!

We are in a tourist/holiday destination so people visit, fill their kids full of sweets and fizzy drinks etc. to treat them and then rich food and more desserts in the restaurant and I guess it just doesn't agree with them. Especially since we don't offer a typical childrens menu.

@CakeIsNotAvailable and I'd be tempted to shame them on facebook with CCTV footage.

Saw this recently in a very busy supermarket, at Christmas... Woman wandering about with a trolley full of children, while other shoppers are trying to buy their Christmas food. The drama... She’s shouting at the top of her voice at two bickering older children “stop being so rude to your sister!” “apologise to her now!” etc... While totally ignoring the young boy sitting inside the trolley, leaving a trail of vomit as they go & still stuffing his face with the blueberries that are causing the spewing.

It was she who was rude, not the poor kids... Imagine expecting an already manic supermarket worker to clean up the mess she’d left behind. She was such a loud attention-seeking bloody rude person!

My DS vomited in a restaurant once. There was a lot of vomit, all over the floor. Thankfully, the restaurant was fairly empty. My DH took DS to the bathroom to sort him out and clean him up. The manager brought me a roll of blue paper towels and a bin bag and I cleaned it up as best I could from the floor on my hands and knees. It was during covid (although my DS didn't have covid) so definitely couldn't have expected someone else to deal with bodily fluids like that.

I’ve had a child be sick in a restaurant. She gagged, I realised what was about to happen and leapt, gazelle like though the restaurant, holding aloft my child.
I literally clamped my hand over her mouth but
Very sadly a bit landed in a woman’s shoes.

I couldn’t make it to the toilet, so I rushed d behind the bar and she vomited in the sink.

it was genuinely traumatic for everyone. My husband sorted the sink, I sorted the shoe and bought the couple wine and we skunked off home.

mortifying.